Inspired by the movie "Julie and Julia" I plan to re-watch and review every movie in my DVD collection in one year. Well, thirteen months. That's 166 movies in 13 months, which works out to about 3 a week.

"Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us better people."-- Roger Ebert, The Great Movies

"Mr. Scott, Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?" -- Kirk"Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?" -- Scotty"Sir, your son meant more to me than you can know. I'd have given my life if it would have saved his. Believe me when I tell you -- he made no request of me." -- Kirk (to Sarek)"The word is no. I am therefore going anyway." -- Kirk

The film opens with a re-cap of the end of Star Trek II, including the death of Spock, his funeral, and the coffin landing on the Genesis Planet. It then moves to the Enterprise bridge, a short time after the incidents in Wrath of Khan. The trainee crew has been off-loaded on a Star Base, Saavik and Dr. David Marcus, are on a science vessel to explore the Genesis Planet, and Kirk and his crew are heading back to space dock at Star Fleet Command to have the ship refitted and repaired. But Kirk feels haunted, and is mourning his friend.

Meanwhile, a Klingon named Kluge has purchased the Genesis data. He destroys the vessel that brought it to him, even though he is in love with the female commander and vice versa.

Enterprise returns to space dock, and stands in awe of Excelsior, the command vessel of the next generation of trans-warp ships. Then there's a security alert from Spock's quarters. Kirk hears Spock's voice, but finds McCoy instead. McCoy is a mess.

When the crew disembarks at the space dock, they find they are all given commendations and extended leave. Enterprise, now twenty years old, is to be de-commissioned. Only Scotty is given an immediate new assignment, Captain of Engineering of the Excelsior. The crew is also told that Genesis has become a political firestorm, so it is Verboten, hush-hush, top secret. They are to tell no one, anything about it.

Kluge watches Kirk's tape about Genesis -- it's the same as Dr. Carol Marcus's from the previous film, but shorter and with narration by Kirk. The Klingon then plans to take his ship to the Genesis planet.

Meanwhile, the USS Grissom, a science vessel, begins scanning the Genesis planet. The Commander points out something metallic is on the surface.

On Earth, Kirk, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura drink to absent friends. Sarek arrives and the others leave. Sarek is upset not only by the loss of his son, but that Kirk left him there, on Genesis. Kirk is confused. Sarek explains about the Katra, the Vulcan soul, which can be placed inside another at the time of death. Kirk knows nothing about this - but explains about the glass wall between he and Spock. Sarek and Kirk review (at great pain to Kirk) the video logs of Spock's death in the engine room. This gives us one alternate take, from Spock's pov looking out at Kirk, rather than Kirk's pov looking at Spock in the chamber, and a fast-forward in reverse of the relevant scenes in Star Trek II. Kirk spots Spock mind-melding with McCoy. Sarek agrees that Spock probably placed his Katra in McCoy, which also explains his weird behavior.

Kirk attempts to get permission from Star Fleet to go to the Genesis planet. McCoy, separately, tries to book passage on a civilian freighter or ship bound for Genesis. McCoy is arrested for his trouble and placed in a Star Fleet lunatic asylum. Kirk's told, "no, absolutely not", even when he explains he holds Spock's soul in his hands. Kirk, with help from Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov, rescue McCoy. Then, with Scotty's help they steal the Enterprise, leaving the sabotaged Excelsior in the dust.

Kirk
and his skeleton crew make for the Genesis planet. Meanwhile, Saavik
and Dr. Marcus find a Vulcan child on the planet. He screams in
pain, and cannot speak in either English (Federation Standard) or
Vulcan. Dr. David Marcus quickly realizes the planet is unstable,
it's aging rapidly, and it will soon rip itself apart. Saavik
realizes that Spock is aging with the planet.

The
Grissom
attempts to contact Star Fleet to obtain further instructions about
what to do about Spock and the planet. However, the Klingon Bird of
Prey spaceship arrives and completely destroys the Grissom.
The Klingon Commander, Kluge, wanted the ship disabled not destroyed
and he kills the gunner who made the "lucky" shot.

Some
Klingons beam to the planet, they find Spock's coffin with it's
evolved microbes. Kirk,
meanwhile, overhears Star Fleet's futile attempts to raise the
Grissom.
He has Chekov attempt to contact the vessel itself but he's
unsuccessful. He arrives at the Genesis Planet, but the Grissom
is no longer there (since it was destroyed) and the Bird of Prey is cloaked. The Klingons on the planet's surface find David, Saavik,
and Spock and take them hostage. Kirk again tries to contact Grissom
and
of course gets nowhere.

Kirk
fires as the Bird of Prey decloaks. However, because Enterprise
is running with a skeleton crew, largely on automatic control, and has yet to have been fully repaired, it has
no shields. Soon, Kirk has no real control over his own ship. Kluge
then mentions his prisoners on the planet. Kirk talks to Saavik and
David. Saavik lets him know Spock "is not himself but he
lives". A Klingon attacks David (Kirk's son) and kills him. Kirk collapses
in grief.

Kirk,
Scotty, and Chekov activate the destruct sequence on Enterprise.
Kirk and company beam to the planet, while the Klingon boarding party
beams to the Enterprise. The Enterprise is destroyed, while Kirk
watches. Kirk and company reach Saavik and Spock. Kirk goes to
David's body. Saavik tells Kirk, David died to save them. Kluge
beams down to confront Kirk. Sulu, Chekhov, McCoy, Saavik, and
Scotty are beamed up to the Bird of Prey. Only Kirk and Spock are
left with the Klingons on the unstable planet's surface. Kirk fights
Kluge as the planet breaks up around them. In the end, Kirk kills
Kluge, he goes to Spock and they are beamed up.

Kirk
and his crew take the few remaining Klingons on the Bird of Prey
prisoner then head to Vulcan. When they arrive, they are met by
Sarek and Uhura. Sarek asks that his son's Katra be re-fused into his body, since
Spock lives. McCoy agrees to have this done, despite the danger.
McCoy survives the procedure and Sarek more or less tells Kirk Spock
will be alright. Kirk sees Spock, Spock looks questioningly at his
crew mates, as if he doesn't quite recognize them. However, he
stops in front of Kirk and says, "Your name is Jim." It's
implied Spock may have a long recovery ahead of him, but he will be
alright.

Despite
the loss of Spock at the end of the previous film, The Search for
Spock, actually starts much lighter than the previous film did.
There's a certain amount of humor in many of the lines, and the
secondary characters actually have things to do (if briefly) and get
good lines as well. As it becomes apparent that the Enterprise
is to be decommissioned, and that due to Vulcan spiritual beliefs and
telepathic abilities, as well as the power of the Genesis Planet,
Spock's new body and his soul can be re-united the tone of the film
becomes more serious. However, there are several great character
moments after this change in tone. Kirk twice declares his loyalty
to Spock and that he would even give his life for his first officer
and friend. McCoy also admits that he misses Spock and that he can't
lose Spock for a second time. So, again the film emphasizes the
characters and their relationships.

Again,
a villain from the original series, the Klingons, is brought back.
Christopher Lloyd is a superb as Kluge. John Larroquette, completely
unrecognizable under his Klingon make-up, is also excellent as Maltz,
Kluge's right-hand man, even though most of his lines are in
Klingon. And, yes, this is the film that introduces Klingon as a
functioning spoken language (this would be refines in Star
Trek VI The Undiscovered Country).
Unfortunately, Kristie Alley is replaced with Robin Curtis as
Saavik. Nothing against Robin Curtis – but I prefer Kristie Alley
in the role. I have no idea why the production crew switched
actresses, I'd have to do some research to find out, which I'm not
going to do, but years after the fact – I wish they had kept Alley.
Curtis is very bland, while Alley had a special something in the
role.

Overall,
I enjoy this film too. It's the "middle" piece of a
trilogy, but I still think it's really very good. And it's very much
Star
Trek,
in that it's about the sacrifices a close-knit group of people are
willing to make for each other.

About Me

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